Posterior alien hand syndrome: case report

The alien hand syndrome (AHS) is involuntary uncontrolled movement of an arm with a sense of estrangement from the limb itself. AHS was initially used to describe interhemispheric disconnection phenomena in patients with lesions in the anterior corpus callosum, but it has been found in patients with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroradiology 2002-11, Vol.44 (11), p.921-923
Main Authors: ROHDE, S, WEIDAUER, S, LANFERMANN, H, ZANELLA, F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biological and medical sciences
Brain Diseases - pathology
Cerebral Cortex - pathology
Corpus Callosum - anatomy & histology
Dyskinesias - pathology
Female
Hand
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Medical sciences
Neurology
Syndrome
Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system
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Summary:The alien hand syndrome (AHS) is involuntary uncontrolled movement of an arm with a sense of estrangement from the limb itself. AHS was initially used to describe interhemispheric disconnection phenomena in patients with lesions in the anterior corpus callosum, but it has been found in patients with posterior cerebral lesions without involvement of the corpus callosum, for example parietal infarcts or corticobasal degeneration. The posterior alien hand syndrome is less frequent and presents with nonpurposive behaviour like lifting the arm or writhing fingers. We report an 80-year-old woman with a posterior AHS of the dominant right hand. MRI showed atrophy of the pre- and postcentral gyri without involvement of the corpus callosum. We discuss the aetiology of the posterior AHS and the differences from the anterior varieties.
ISSN:0028-3940
1432-1920
DOI:10.1007/s00234-002-0839-2